Carine Hartman ponders how Eskom founder Hendrik van der Bijl must be turning in his grave at the sight of what has become of the company once known as Escom 💡
A general view of Eskom's Tutuka Power Station in Standerton, South Africa. Picture: Gallo Images/Rapport/Deon Raath
Hendrik van der Bijl will be spinning in his grave, I think, looking at a pic of Nikola Tesla apparently spinning in his and my neighbourhood group tellingHendrik is my man; my De Ruyter on his white horse; my Don Quixote storming mills and turning them into wind energy. Because Hendrik, in his life, was just a good entrepreneur; an Elon Musk solving the world’s problems… Only problem is, Hendrik didn’t have Elon’s money to throw around. And he didn’t care. He, unlike Elon, didn’t envisage pods underground shooting you from one city to the next.He, like a true entrepreneur, told America how to make the first trans-Atlantic telephone call. Far away from power, I know, but enough for Jan Smuts to lure him back to SA to “light us up”.
Smuts told him to “take a stake” in it. He refused. Like a true socialist, or, God forbid, communist, his answer was always the same: “It’s not mine; it’s the people’s.
Government kick-started every endeavour and Hendrik saw that those loans were paid back in a jiffy so the people could truly benefit from each state-owned entity’s commercial success.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Roads department says assessment of collapsed Hendrik Potgieter bridge under wayThe Gauteng department of roads and transport has announced it has appointed a bridge engineering service provider to assess damage to a bridge on Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort that collapsed in December during heavy rains.
Read more »
Roads department says assessment of collapsed Hendrik Potgieter bridge under wayThe Gauteng department of roads and transport has announced it has appointed a bridge engineering service provider to assess damage to a bridge on Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort that collapsed in December during heavy rains.
Read more »
Roads department says assessment of collapsed Hendrik Potgieter bridge under wayThe Gauteng department of roads and transport has announced it has appointed a bridge engineering service provider to assess damage to a bridge on Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort that collapsed in December during heavy rains.
Read more »
LETTER: Gwede, why wait until now to fix Eskom?If it will take just a year to address South Africa’s power crisis, one can only wonder why this hasn’t been done before.
Read more »
Eskom's 100th birthday: Utility celebrating its own slow death | The CitizenWhile Eskom counts down the days to its birthday, energy experts weigh in on where it all went wrong, and how long the utility has left.
Read more »
AfriForum sues Eskom | The Citizen💡AfriForum sues Eskom to obtain details on the power supplier’s controversial deals with its service providers. Eskom loadshedding loadsheddingupdates
Read more »